What an interesting study title!

Just the title of the debate sounds ridiculous. When you look at the party involved in funding the study, of course it seems extraordinarily biased. Conflict of interest right there!

Ok, so without having read the actual paper, I do think it is possible. On a personal level, I am a size 2, wt 100-110 pounds, and eat candy by the bucket. Literally, by the BUCKET.

Weight comes down to exercise, and total calories consumed.

While I'm not saying that it is necessarily possible, I"m not saying it isn't, either. I do wonder, what type of study was it? Probably case control? Certainly not RCT. What about blinding? What about selection bias? What about age? Kids have a higher metabolism anyway. What was the rest of the diet like? There's a lot to consider. I'm just saying...!

No, this is not a credible finding.

No, in order for this to be considered credible, it would have to be sponsored by an unbiased source. If the people that participated in the study do weigh less if they eat candy, then there must be something that the study didn't share, for example; maybe the people who eat candy regularly also exercise daily.

A candy-positive study sponsored by the National Confectioners Association does not have credibility.

A study that evaluates a connection between eating candy and weight has little meaning. The study parameters are too ill-defined. What constitutes candy? Are these participants still overweight? When a study is sponsored by a group that has a stake in the outcome, the study itself loses credibility. The ill-defined parameters combine with the blatantly unbiased sponsor to negate any validity of the study.

Study about those who eat candy having a healthy weight should be viewed with skepticism

The National Confectioners Association published a popular study in 2011 that alleged that people who eat candy and other sweet foods are able to maintain a healthier and lighter weight than people who don't indulge. It's my belief that this study should be taken with a grain of salt. The NCA published this study for their own gain: people who read the study will believe that eating candy contributes to a healthy body weight, which translates to greater sales for the sweets industry (which the NCA obviously wants to protect).

No, this sponsor is in direct conflict of interest with the study.

No, the National Confectioners Association, a group comprised of individuals with business interests in candy production, cannot be taken seriously for creating a study on the weight loss effects of eating candy. Candy is known to be unhealthy, so this study is clearly not credible. There are arguments that eating some candy makes you happier and is a positive reward to a healthy lifestyle, but in this case it is not the candy helping people but their own system of rewards for dieting and exercise.